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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 166 / Tuesday, August 31, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
32. The Bureau also broadly interprets the statutory 15-day opportunity to cure as providing all applicants an opportunity to cure material defects that would lead to the denial or partial denial of an Application Request for Funding Allocation, even filers of applications that were initially found acceptable. In those instances, should the Bureau subsequently find, after further review, that the application is materially deficient and subject to denial, the applicant will be afforded the 15-day cure period.
33. Requests for Additional Information. During the application review process there may be multiple instances where the Reimbursement Program Fund Administrator seeks additional information from an applicant prior to an application being granted or denied. These additional opportunities to amend an application or provide supplemental information prior to any official decision will ensure that all applicants have sufficient opportunities to present the most complete application seeking reimbursement, and the Bureau clarifies that these opportunities are separate and distinct from, and do not count against, the formal 15-day opportunity to cure period. The Bureau finds this clarification of the process mitigates RWAs concerns of having only a single 15-day cure period.
34. Amendments during the Application Review Period. As proposed, the Bureau will allow applicants to make amendments to the filings during the 90-day review period.
Additionally, the Bureau adopts its proposal to deny, as a general matter, amendment requests to an Application Request for Funding Allocation that would result in an increase to the total cost estimate. The Bureau therefore denies RWAs request to allow increases to applicant cost estimates.
Reimbursement Program support is limited and subject to prioritization requirements should demand exceed supply. Allowing amendments to increase cost estimates would hinder the review of applications within the statutory 90-day review period, as the Reimbursement Program Fund Administrator would need to restart its cost estimate review for reasonableness with each amendment filed. Moreover, amendments increasing total cost estimate demand could ultimately delay the issuance of allocations to all participants because the Bureau and Reimbursement Program Fund Administrator will not be able to determine if prioritization is necessary until all applications are processed and the last application is granted.

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35. The Bureau also rejects Nokias request to allow applicants to build in an overrun allowance of 10% to account for unexpected costs. Nokia asks that applicants receive a funding allocation for 10% more than their reported cost estimates. Applicants are required by the Commissions rules to provide goodfaith cost estimates for removal, replacement, and disposal. Applicants are thus encouraged to provide cost estimates that are as accurate as possible based on all available information.
Allowing applicants to build in overrun allowances would undermine the goal of the Reimbursement Program of efficiently allocating funding support to help as many eligible providers as possible.
36. 45-Day Extension Period. As proposed, and consistent with the Secure Networks Act, the Bureau directs the Reimbursement Program Fund Administrator to advise the Bureau, based on its initial review of the applications filed, whether to extend the 90-day deadline for granting or denying applications by up to an additional 45day period. The Reimbursement Program Fund Administrator shall indicate whether it needs additional time to review the applications based on the number and complexity of the applications received. If the Bureau finds an extension justified, it will issue a public notice announcing the extension of the 90-day review period by a specified duration, not to exceed 45
days.
37. Allocation. Based on the cost estimates provided by applicants, the Reimbursement Program Fund Administrator will recommend for the Bureaus consideration a funding allocation for each approved application. The Bureau will review each recommendation and, following any modifications to cure deficiencies following the 15-day cure period, will either grant or deny the application and proceed with issuing the allocation.
Should total allocation demand exceed the funding available, the Reimbursement Program Fund Administrators allocation recommendations will be adjusted in accordance with the prioritization scheme required by the amended Secure Networks Act and adopted by the Commission in the 2021 Supply Chain Order.
38. No Allocation Adjustments. As directed by the Commission in the 2020
Supply Chain Order, the funding amount allocated represents the maximum amount eligible for draw down by an eligible provider unless a subsequent funding allocation is made.
Accordingly, the Bureau emphasizes
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that once it makes a funding allocation determination, it will not adjust the funding allocation amount even if there is a change in the participants plans or if actual costs exceed estimated costs.
To the extent a participant requires funding in excess of its allocated amount, the participant will be required to file a new application in a subsequent filing window, if and when such a filing window is announced. The Bureau will only issue funding disbursements for reasonable expenses actually incurred.
39. Allocation Announcement Schedule. The Bureau adopts its proposal to periodically release public notices announcing funding recipients and the amount of their funding allocations as well as to notify recipients directly by email. No commenter filed comments on this proposal. This approach ensures administrative efficiency while also providing transparency to Reimbursement Program applicants and recipients, as well as the public.
40. Pursuant to the Commissions rules, after eligible providers receive funding allocations and incur actual costs, they must file reimbursement claims along with supporting invoices and other cost documentation to draw from their allocation. Each Reimbursement Program recipient must file at least one reimbursement claim within one year of the approval of its Application Request for Funding Allocation. Failure to file within the year will result in the expiration of the funding allocation and the provider will be unable to receive any reimbursement funds from the allocation as the unused funds would revert back to the Reimbursement Program. The Commission would be able to then reallocate to other applications in a future filing window any funds from the expired allocation. In this section, the Bureau adopts proposals related to the filing of reimbursement claims and extensions of the reimbursement claim deadline permitted under the Commissions rules.
41. Filing Reimbursement Claim Requests. The Bureau adopts several of its proposals related to processing recipients requests for reimbursement and will finalize the FCC Form 5640
Reimbursement Claim Request as proposed. Additionally, the Bureau adopts its proposal to allow recipients to submit multiple Reimbursement Claim Requests as they incur expenses throughout the reimbursement period.
The Bureau, with the assistance of the Reimbursement Program Fund Administrator, will review and grant or deny Reimbursement Claim Requests for actual costs reasonably incurred.

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